


Just Another Edgy Teen Romance

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe-Mall, Keith is the cringy emo gay, Lance is so bi it hurts, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-21 14:45:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7391392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The night of Mall Madness, not a creature was stirring. That was a lie, there were more than fifty stirring which made Voltron's Pet Store's "favorite" employee, Lance, want to rip his hair out. Fortunately, there was a disaster of a Spencer's employee who he was able to spew salt at. Truly, a love story for the ages.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lance experiences "oh no he's hot" and Keith longs for the sweet embrace of death

Saying that it was a normal night at Voltron’s Pet Store until Lance met Keith would have not only been a cliché beaten to death and back but also the biggest lie Lance had told since he told his oldest sister Maria that he had no idea how her old Barbie Jeep ended up on school campus properly parked and locked up to prevent theft.  It was the night of Mall Madness, meaning there were going to be over a hundred pre-pubescent girls trapped in the mall for the majority, if not entirety of the night, and all of them would want nothing more than to see every single goddamned animal the pet store had to offer.

So he had to run around like a man on a mission, making sure that there wasn’t a single speck of dust or dirt on the floor, shelves, and glass containers despite the fact that they would be ruined with grubby hands covered in twenty-seven different kinds of undiscovered grime and dirt in just under two hours. The fact that his boss was here tonight and was checking over the animals themselves did little to sate his desire to spew salt from his mouth.  If he talked shit to or at Allura, she would not only fire him but kick his ass to the point where it would be as flat and misshapen as an ass could be and as into it as Lance thinks he could be, he needed this job. So he looked around the store for an appropriate victim for his savagery. All of the animals were either asleep, too cool to bother, or under Allura’s care at the moment so he had to rule them out. And he only talked shit about himself at 2 am when he was contemplating the inevitability of death so that left…no one. No one to hear his amazing roasts or to cry over how amazing and handsome he was….except for that incredibly emo looking skinny ass piece of shit Spencer’s employee that he could see through his window. Lance plastered himself against the window, desperate to get a better look at the boy without going into Spencer’s because he had a reputation to maintain (and Spencer’s scared him on a deep internal level). He looked like the very definition of a little bitch, though a very cute little bitch from the half of his face that Lance could see. Dressed in clothes that should have been left with 2009 Hot Topic and with three ear piercings in the gay ear alone, this boy looked like the perfect victim. Working up his courage to destroy the cute emo kid, he yelled out a very specific, “Hey you!”

 

The boy looked like he was just about to leave, which was perfect. Roast his butt after he clocks out as payback for making him suffer alone for several hours. But unfortunately, the boy didn’t hear his “hey you”. Or he was being a little shit and ignoring Lance’s call, which was both what he was probably doing and completely unacceptable.

 

“Hey, you with the mullet!” Mullet was apparently the key word for getting the boy’s attention as he turned toward Lance’s general direction with a finger pointed at his chest and a face filled with confusion, but not for long.

 

“Yeah you, come over here!” To make life easier on the mysterious punk, Lance came out of the store to a neutral spot between their two stores.

 

Fortunately for his sake, the punk finally got the picture. He walked out of the store with confusion still plastered on his face; damn he had a cute face now that Lance could see all of it. Shame it had to belong to such a probable asshole.

 

 When the two of them finally met face to face for the first time, it was a first meeting for the history books.

 

“Can I…help you? I have to go someplace like now and I don’t think we’ve met so..?”

 

 “Nah, I just wanted to tell you that you look like a twelve year old whose idea of fashion came from a Marilyn Manson music video” Lance said as he looked the boy up and down in a judging manner.

 

The mysterious employee looked scandalized and offended beyond belief; good. “Shut the hell up you fur covered fuckboy!”

 

Lance mockingly put a hand on his chest, secretly impressed that the cutie was able to go from 0 to 100 as quickly as Lance himself, “Language! What would those Girl Scout troop leaders think if you talked like that around their girls in a little bit? And also, fur covered? This is a light dusting at best, from dogs that have been inbred for centuries! This fur’s probably worth more than you and I make in a month! And it lowkey sounded like you called me a furry so uhhhh, _no sorry not my thing really._ ”

 

The boy stared at Lance as if he was the stupidest thing he had ever come across before saying harshly, “NO I wasn’t calling you a furry I was trying to be clever but now I’m going to be late and-you know what fuck this conversation and fuck you I’m leaving.” With that the boy runs away, his spiked punk bracers sparkling ominously in the mall’s florescent lighting.

 

Lance watched the boy run away with a wistful look in his eyes. “Why do all the cute boys have to be so _edgy,”_ he said in a disappointed voice, looking at the back of the boy’s mullet covered head in disgust and longing.

 

This totally not sappy and/or creepy staring lasted until Lance remembered that Mall Madness was starting in now under an hour as he ran back into the pet store in a near screaming panic, praying Allura didn’t notice his absence (she most definitely did). 

* * *

 

Keith had never stepped foot in the pet store directly across from Spencer’s but he wanted to now, for the sole purpose of beating the shit out of the asshole employee who probably just made him late. He had to get to Hot Topic within the next two minutes with his name tag on and behind the register or else his manager and mall security was going to have his ass in a sling. At least he had his name tag in his tight, black skinny jeans. Throwing it over his head he caught sight of his second home. It was smaller than every store on the mall’s property and it smelled faintly of mildew at all times, but he loved it. He even managed to get to the store and where he needed to be with forty-three seconds to spare. If that wasn’t an indication that this night wasn’t going to suck ass, he didn’t know what was. Even with all of the Girl Scouts who would no doubt be making his life unpleasant until 3 a.m., he was sure that he could handle whatever was thrown his way.

Three hours in Keith had wished that he had never taken this job. The amount of times he had to remind himself that these were _children_ and that they didn’t understand that dealing with their screaming, disruption of the neatly folded shirts and the constant tossing of merchandise all over the store was not appreciated in the least because he was just going to have to clean it all up before he left was nearing triple digits. He couldn’t wait for the call for all of the younger children to go home, he honestly couldn’t. He took this job because he had fond memories of this store that so fit his aesthetic (and he needed the money), not so he could listen to the same anime clips being played endlessly on the decently sized TV. If he heard Sailor Moon yelling her dumbass transformation phrase one more time, blood would be shed. At least the crowds were starting to thin out now that Claire’s was going to be closing for the night soon, he felt so much sympathy for those poor bastards; the lines were around the corner last he saw. Taking a moment to breath and survey the damage done to the store, Keith wished the dumbass pet store boy was as miserable as he was.

* * *

 

Keith’s wish had actually come true within the first hour of Mall Madness, in fact. Lance had such a pounding headache from hearing every girl who stepped into the store coo and cry over the bunnies and dogs that he was on the verge of popping some Advil in his mouth in front of every girl in the store, setting a good drug-free example be damned. He honestly didn’t know how Allura was doing as well as she was. Endless cries of wanting to pet and hold the larger fluffballs were all met with smiles and agreement, despite knowing that not one of the girls was walking around with more than $60 on their personnel. And of course if there were some girls who wanted to see something other than the cats, dogs, or rabbits, they wanted to see the snakes! Lance loved the little vertebrae worms with all his heart but he gets jittery when he has to handle them and from the way their tongues flick out, he knows they smell his fear.  Thankfully those kids were normally accompanied by a parent or Troop Leader who set them straight before he makes an idiot of himself. It looks like the flow of small gremlins has died down for now, so Lance takes a moment to check his phone. Unsurprisingly, it’s flooded with notifications from Pidge. His friend has spent all of the night being the saltiest Game Stop employee known to man and making sure to document all the shit they’ve had to deal with. The latest crowning moment was lovingly documented with Pidge’s middle finger pointing gently at two teenage girls laying on the floor of the store with the caption “they’ve been here for two hours and refuse to talk to me or do anything but play mario kart”. Lance winces in sympathy, at least the kids in Voltron’s are normally herded out of the store after about ten minutes. As a response he took a quick picture of one of the tanks covered in fingerprints and traces of sweets streaked across it with the caption “i look away for one goddamn minute.” Smiling to himself, he sent it and lowered his phone only to see Allura glowering at him. His smiled dropped as his face took on a panic expression as Allura gave him a saccharine sweet smile.

“Since you have enough time to smile at whatever’s on your phone, how about you go and clean the play area? One of the dogs just had an accident that needs to be cleaned up before any more customers come in.”

Lance let out the most exaggerated groan he could get away with as he gave a defeated “yes ma’am” and headed over to where the paper towels were.

* * *

 

Finally, at 3:30 a.m. the store was able to completely close and Keith could leave so he could hang himself in peace. This was his first Mall Madness and he wished with every fiber of his being that it was his last. Since there was a mall exit nearby Spencer’s he figured that it wouldn’t hurt to see if the asshole was still running around (he hoped he was). So it was to Keith’s great disappointment when he was outside Voltron’s Pet Store that he saw that they had been closed for longer than an hour _at least_ judging by the lack of activity in the area, so much for getting sweet verbal payback. His phone vibrated in his jacket pocket, almost certainly a response to the text he sent a few minutes ago. Pulling it out and opening the message, he saw Shiro’s response.

Shiro  
  
Rough night???  
  
yeah, there was this asshole pet store employee who gave me shit. other than that it wasn’t completely awful, just long and frustrating.   
  
and what are you still doing up???????? the store opens early on sunday and it’s almost four now. go to bed u egg  
  
I took a nap when I got home. 7 a.m. isn’t that early anyway. But if you’re really that worried, I’ll pretend to fall asleep for your sake :D  
  
GOODNIGHT SHIRO  
  


Shaking his head at his ex-coworker's antics, he put his phone back in his pocket. As he felt the cold night air on his face, Keith prayed that he would never have to see or talk to that annoying little fur covered shit again. Unfortunately, fate and the boys’ aggressive reactions to savagery had different ideas 


	2. Everyone has a gay old time™ and Lance gets #rekt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith catches up with Shiro, Lance suffers, Keith meets Lance again, and Lance suffers some more (but not in that exact order).

The next day, an exhausted Lance came into the store. They weren’t actually open on Sundays, but cleaning needed to be done and apparently he was the man for the job. Well, he and the current object of his ire. Coran was wiping down the counters and tanks with a serene look on his face, as if he hadn’t been involved in the horror of the night before… _oh wait_ , he hadn’t because he asked for the night off just hours before Lance could, like an absolute dick muffin. Of course, Lance being Lance, he had to make his opinions known to the man himself.

“So… _Coran,_ I got a quick question for you buddy. **Why did you take Mall Madness night off like an ass nugget when I know for a fact that you knew that I was going to try to get the night off.”** His voice, which had initially been as pleasant and quiet as possible had crescendoed to the equivalent of a banshee getting punched in the titty area.

Coran let out a sigh like the condescending ass he was, “From all the time we’ve worked with each other, I’m disappointed Lance. You really should know that when children are out of their starry eyed innocence phase, the number of times I want to be around them dramatically decreases. And unfortunately for us both, I reached my tolerance when Allura was around that age.” He lets out another sigh, what a dick, “and _ass nugget_? I think that’s scraping at the bottle of the name calling barrel, even for you.”

“Oh wow, good comeback _grandpa_.” Immediately after saying this, Lance was hit with a wave of regret and soon to be coming embarrassment of the first and second degree variety. This isn’t the first time this comeback has backfired on him with Coran, and it definitely won’t be the last.

“Why, Lance! I had no idea that you saw the two of us as family, I’m honestly touched. Maybe those bonding exercises Allura put us through were good for more than watching you make a fool of yourself in front of the animals!”

Lance cringed at the memory of those exercises before retorting, “Pfft as if! You’re more like the weird uncle who I used to get along well with but ultimately got himself arrested for having piles of child pornography in his basement, leaving me with feelings of uncertainty about life and myself given our relationship!”

Lance took in a long breath of air when he was done, having said the rant in one breath. There was silence after he was done, which would’ve been fine if not for the look Coran was giving him.

“That…was oddly specific, Lance. Do you need to talk about this?”

There were a million things Lance could have said in response to that absurd accusation before he caught sight of Coran’s slowly growing grin.

Lance could’ve screamed, he did scream in fact.  He screamed until his voice gave out and Coran told him to go home before he embarrassed himself anymore. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, he tossed his apron at Coran and took off for the food court to have a nice lunch and maybe bother Hunk if he was working today.

* * *

 

Thankfully, Keith had the day off on Sunday. But rather than spending a nice day at his house smothered in blankets, he instead decided to go back to the mall. As much as he wanted to, he decided to not check out the pet store and see if the brat was there; he instead went to the store closest to the exit and prayed that no one he knew was going to see him go into the comic store of all places.

It wasn’t a particularly good store; it seemed intent on focusing more on figurines and old games rather than actual comics. Regardless of this rather important fact, this was the only comic store in the entire city so Keith had to stop being a whiny bitch. Besides, Shiro worked at said shitty store so it was automatically not as bad. Said highlight of the comic store noticed him not two minutes after he came in and made his way over with a dorky ass grin on his face.

“Welcome to Galaxy Garrison Comics!” his smile became temporarily strained, as if he was well aware of just how stupid the name of the store was, “Can I help you today?”

Keith softly snorted in amusement, not noticing how Shiro’s face lit up at forcing that sound from his trashy punk friend.

“Yeah, hi, I’m looking for any issues of Young Avengers, Li'l Gotham, and an employee at this goddamned store who isn’t an asshole.” Though his words were harsh, they were accompanied by a small smile and the words lacked any true bite in them.

Shiro pouted for a minute before yelling, “Hey, Matt! This punk ass bitch wants to talk to someone decent in the store so get over here!”

After gently setting down the boxes he had been carrying, Matt hurried over to where the two were standing.

“Shiro, keep your voice down! I’m pretty sure that the boss has actually shown up today!”

Shiro looked at his coworker with a grin tugging at his lips, “C’mon Matt, even Zarkon knows that you’re the only good thing in this store!” He turns to look at Keith, “And in response to your other requests, we have Volume 2 of Young Avengers “Style > Substance”, but the majority of the DC comics we have are by Frank Miller.”

Keith made a disgusted face, “Ew, no and I already have that volume, but thanks. Do you have any indie comics?”

Matt and Shiro exchange a look before laughing in unison.

“The only indie comics we have are ruined by water and probably used as feet rests for Sendak in the back room as we speak.” Matt said, wiping an invisible tear from his eye.

Keith winced at the thought of comics being treated that way, “So if things are so shitty here, why are you two still working in this craphole?”

Matt and Shiro exchange another look, significantly more serious this time.

“Well,” started Shiro, “The plan is…for us to _not_ be working here much longer actually. Matt’s dad made the two of us an offer to work with him in regards to his research a few weeks ago. We’re-we’re going to take him up on that offer as soon as we get the chance to quit.”

Keith stared in surprise at the two. “That’s great, really it is. I’m happy for the two of you, you deserve better than this place.” And he was happy for them, he was just also upset; he had never been the most social person, and now he was going to be losing his closest friend because Shiro was finally getting the opportunities he deserved.

Shiro gave him a smile, filled with relief and joy, “Thanks, Keith. Your support means a lot to me, it really does!” and now Keith was feeling like an asshole, _great._ “So as a late celebration, would you like to come with me and Matt to dinner? We’re going to hit the gym after our shift ends, and you’re more than welcome to join us, so we were thinking around 8 p.m. for dinner? Does that work for you?”

Shiro looked so eager to hear Keith’s response; it really had been a while since they had been able to hang out. So it was with a heavy heart, weighed down with guilt and bitterness that he responded, “Don’t think I can tonight sorry, I’m really tired from Mall Madness. Could I take a rain check?”

Shiro’s face fell slightly, before taking on an expression of understanding, “It’s fine, you look exhausted so go get some sleep.  I’ll text you as soon as I’m free so we can grab something to eat.”

Keith smiles at him, “Sounds like a plan. I hope you two enjoy your-“ He cuts himself off as he sees Sendak approaching with a look of anger on his face at seeing two employees being casual with a customer who’s clearly not planning on buying anything. Panicking for a second he grabs the closest comic and says, “I think I’ll take this one, thanks!”

Shiro and Matt look at him in confusion before they too catch sight of Sendak. Matt takes a look at the comic and starts snickering. “Glad we could help! You want to check him out, Shiro? I still have to move some boxes around.”

Keith doesn’t even get time to look at whatever he bought before it’s taken out of his hands and given to Shiro. Shiro looks down, smiles, and Keith feels only regret for what he’s about to have to pay for.

It’s no longer than a minute before the item’s scanned, a whopping $19.99, and Keith hands over his debit card with a twinge of buyer’s remorse settling in his gut. The comic’s handed to him with a smile and a “have a nice day!” as Keith sees that he’s bought Holy Terror. He gags a bit in his mouth, this time he sees Shiro’s grin and is not at all amused by it. As he turns around to leave, head high in the air, he noticed the sign proclaiming that no returns were allowed. Though he would swear otherwise, the surprisingly not shitty security cameras caught a single tear falling from Keith’s face as he left the store.

His bank account may be lighter, but his soul was being weighed down by the unforgivable sin of buying a Frank Miller comic, and not one of the somewhat decent ones. So it was safe to say that his mood was thoroughly soured by the time he was nearing the food court for lunch. And judging by the familiar pastel wearing dickbag drinking a lemonade heading his way, it was about to get worse.

* * *

 

After a very good lunch filled with pestering Hunk at odd intervals by not buying a drink with his meal and then returning to buy said drink or needing more napkins, Lance was content to leave the mall. Sipping on his lemonade contentedly he failed to notice the familiar, second hand embarrassment prompting figure, until he noticed that he was just standing in the middle of the mall, no more than seven feet away, glaring at Lance. Lance stares in awe of the boy, somehow cuter now that the pressure of Mall Madness has left his system and tries to keep his cool as he readies himself to try to flirt with the boy.  He opens his mouth…only to have it close as pain floods his cheek area. His eyes were closed when it happened, but he would be willing to bet money that the cutie just slugged him in the face, and what a punch it was. Lance felt himself fall in love even more and he prayed that he’d be able to talk to the boy without crying from the pain or popping a boner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> coming soon: the beginning of the ship you all read this fic for


	3. Only Fools Rush In (and these two are the definitions of fools)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith takes turns embarrassing themselves and roasting one another. Lance almost sacrifices more than he's willing to for his shitty aesthetic and Keith wishes that he hadn't just gone on a semi-date with such a dork (no he doesn't).

Looking down at the boy whose name Keith still doesn’t know, he felt a sense of righteousness. As if he was able to take control of his fate for the first time in his entire life by punching this boy who he had only met one time.  Finally, something had gone his way for the first time this day. He allowed himself a second to just close his eyes and sigh and groan in relief, not noticing that the boy’s face had gone full scarlet at the sound. When he opened his eyes, he took in the boy who was still on the ground and was surprisingly not angry. He looked at Keith as if he was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen, to the point that he apparently didn’t notice his toppled lemonade spilling onto his pants.  Choosing to be the better man for once in his life, he steeled himself to tell the asshole what was going on.

“Um…your pants?” _Good enough_ , he thought as he settled for pointing at the area where the lemonade was spilling.

Somehow, the boy didn’t understand what he was meaning, “oH SHIT SORRY. I mean I’m not _that_ sorry because you’re cute and you throw a mean ass punch but still this is awkward as fuck and-“he looked down, noticing the lemonade, “oh. _That’s_ what you meant.” He quickly turned the cup upright and put it back in his hand as he stood up.

“Sooorrrry bout that.” He said with a look of embarrassment on his face as he scratched the back of his head like an anime character.

Keith blinked slowly, “It’s fine? I’m the one who punched you and technically got lemonade on you so you’ve done nothing wrong.”

The boy looked surprised and slightly confused before his face cleared and he stuck out a hand, “If that’s how it is, I’m Lance. I figure it’s better than calling me “that hot pet store guy” in your head.” He said with a smile and a wink.

Keith extended his own hand slowly, “Keith, and I’ve just been calling you “that one asshole”.”

Lance’s face fell slightly at that before he responds with, “that’s fine, I can work with assholes.” His face lit up as if he had been gifted a basket of puppies with sealed containers of garlic knots and flower crowns when he realized what had slipped from his mouth. But when Keith gave no reaction that he had even heard Lance, he wanted to cry.

“So, as an apology to both of us, how about you go with me to lunch?”

“Didn’t you just come back from the food court? And what did I do wrong?”

Lance shook his partially empty lemonade, “I could always go for something to drink; besides they actually have good knots here so. And as for what you’ve done wrong, besides ignoring my amazing legit slip, well….when you knocked me over, you broke BOFA.”

Keith stares at him brows furrowed, “What’s BOFA?”

Lance wheezes and clutches his chest, “Is this what true love feels like?” he asked quietly to himself.

Keith looked down at him in worry, “Look, if I go to lunch with you will you stop making a damn scene?”

Still clutching his chest and shaking, Lance gave Keith a rather weak thumbs up.

Lunch with Keith was one of the best lunches Lance had ever had, hands down.

Keith was cute, smart, and he had good taste in food but not to the point of draining Lance’s wallet dry (the last one really made him a winner in Lance’s book). If he didn’t have that mullet, Lance would consider proposing on the spot, edgy lifestyle intentionally disregarded.  The hardest parts of the meal were making sure he wasn’t focusing too much on how cute Keith was and that he didn’t make a fool of himself when they were talking.

“So, how long has your ear been pierced?” Lance asked, eyeing the piercings with slight interest.

Keith laughed, it was a nice sound. “I’ve had the top two for about two years now, just got the bottom pierced last year actually. Shiro dared me to take advantage of a Claire’s sale on piercings, and I was raised a smart spender so I came out with a new piercing and $10 richer.”

Lance laughed quietly, “Color me impressed, you faced off against a store directed for preteen girls. Your masculinity must be incredibly strong to withstand such a crushing blow to come out with only profit.” His words were incredibly dry, but there was a slight twist to his lips.

Keith frowned at him before leaning down to shove him, “Shut up! You asked, I answered.”

Lance winced; he had hoped that his joke would have been well received but apparently the only thing he was ever going to be blowing was his chances of getting together with a cute boy.

“Hey, careful! These seats aren’t exactly made for someone of my height! You don’t want me to tip over and crack my head open, do ya?”

Keith looked at the bright, plastic chair that Lance had dragged over from the single table made specifically for kids in disgust. “If it’s so dangerous, then why’d you grab it?”

Lance laughed and shook his head as if Keith had said something particularly dumb. “Sometimes you just gotta do things for the aesthetic.  That and I thought me going in a super small and uncomfortable chair would make you feel better about being shorter than me.”

Keith’s head snapped to Lance’s face, “Fuck off! You’re taller by like an inch, _maybe_!”

“Yeah whatever, shorty.” Lance said, voice breaking off into laughter at the last word.

Keith pushed him again, huffing out a laugh as Lance shrieked in panic trying to keep the chair from tipping over. “Serves you right, jackass.” He said, only partially serious.

“Oh wow, harsh.” Lance said, trying to remove himself from his chair, “I gotta run to the bathroom real quick, otherwise I’d kick your ass for saying something like that.”

Keith laughed a bit louder this time, “I’d like to see you try that. You look like a drowned rat could beat you up for your lunch money.”

“Keith, that hurts me deep down. But…at least I don’t look like a punk ass bitch who’s never seen a weight room in his entire life!” After saying that, Lance ran towards the bathroom, laughing the whole time.

 _What a jackass_ , Keith thought slightly fondly as he pulled his phone out to check something important that had been bothering him.

Lance came back with a renewed sense of confidence, having given himself a quick pep talk in one of the mirrors of the thankfully empty boys’ restroom.

Attempting to plop himself in the way too small chair, honestly the things he did for his aesthetic, he gave Keith a smile.

“Did I miss anything?”

Keith makes the ‘ehhhhh’ motion with his hands, “Not much, just deciding if I need to call for help soon.”

Oh shit he really fucked up apparently. “How come you need help?” He asked, trying to keep his voice level and free of worry.

“It’s not for me, it’s for you.”

 _That’s always reassuring_ , he thought with absolutely no sarcasm. “What for?”

“Because it really must have hurt when I broke “BOFA” your nuts.” He says the whole sentence with a completely straight face, never once changing from a deadpan. Lance had never been more impressed in his life.

“Did you really look up what BOFA meant just so you could roast me like this?” Lance asked, he would be impressed either way.

“I just wanted to know what it meant.” Keith turns to smile at him, “roasting your ass was just a side benefit.”

Cute and savage, what had Lance gotten himself into? A good thing, he decided, a very good, slightly problematic thing. Checking the time on his watch real quick, he winced. It was a lot later than he thought, they must have been in the food court longer than Lance thought.

He turned to look at Keith, who looked like he definitely wasn’t thinking about what was going through Lance’s head as he was checking his watch right after a conversation.

“Hey, I gotta go soon. I promised my sister I would look after my nephew tonight so she could go out. Wanna finish this another time?”

Though Keith had expected Lance to try to leave much sooner, he was surprised that he had to go for a legitimate reason and even more surprised that he wanted to see him again.

“Uh sure? Here’s my phone, go ahead and put in your contact info. If you want I mean. So we can stay in contact and meet up?” Keith chose to stop talking before he made a fool of himself any further. Though he somewhat doubted that he could top forgetting that they _worked right across from each other_.

Lance didn’t seem to notice his verbal blunder however as he finished putting his information into Keith’s phone and handing his phone over in return. Keith noticed that the home screen was a picture of Lance and two other kids, all grinning like their lives depended on it. He recognized one of them as one of the employees in the food court but he had no idea who the other one was. Filing the picture away in the “none of your business” folder, he put in his information and handed the phone back with no other snooping incidents.

Lance grinned at him again, “Great! I’ll see you soon?”

Keith opened his mouth to reply before catching sight of Shiro and Matt walking towards the exit, Matt talking about something enthusiastically. Unfortunately for Keith, however, when Shiro turned his head slightly to respond, he caught sight of Keith standing next to a boy he didn’t know. He immediately started waving and tapping Matt’s shoulder to get him to look over as he pointed proudly at Keith. Matt laughed before trying to pull Shiro away as he said something that evidently made Shiro even happier. Finally Matt just sighed and started dragging him away by his ear until he stopped making a scene.

Apparently Lance noticed it too, “Friends of yours?” He asked in amusement.

Keith groaned, “Yeah, and he’s very happy whenever he sees me being social with other people. Guess who’s going to be getting a series of proud parent texts tonight?”

Lance laughed, “Boy do I know that feeling. Anyway, I really gotta bolt, sorry. Catch you later?”

“Yeah!”

Lance ran off, choosing to run backwards so he could get a good look at Keith as he left. As he opened the door he blew an air kiss over to Keith and left with a laugh and a grin. What a dick.

When Keith got home, it was already dark outside. He just wanted to go to bed and sleep for a million years and burn the shit out of Holy Terror when he was less exhausted. Throwing himself on his bed, a text vibration from his phone seemed intent on disrupting his plans.

Shiro  
  
Was that you with a boy???? He looked cute!!! :D  
  


Keith groaned in disgust as he tossed his phone on the ground, not in the mood to deal with Shiro in full parent mode. He was gonna go to sleep and have sweet dreams about how he was never going to see Lance again, never hear his voice or his dorky ass laugh or his lame ass jokes. He was not going to stay up or grab his phone for anything other than setting an alarm. He definitely wasn’t going to call Lance. Hell no, no way. Not at all…He going to text him instead. Just a quick ‘hey’ to test the waters and see if he had a chance. Lance was probably one of those dick bags who took three days to text back just for giggles, so there was no point in getting his hopes up. Scrolling through his contacts he didn’t see Lance at first; however a second scroll through his contacts revealed that he was registered as “Cutie Patootie” rather than his actual name. Making a note to change it when he wasn’t physically tired as well as tired of Lance’s _bullshit_ , he braced himself for what was undoubtedly about to happen.

Cutie Patootie :3  
  
hey  
  


Not even a minute later, his phone vibrated. Keith looked at it in surprise, there was no way that Lance responded that quick, he must’ve put in his number wrong and he just got a text saying that the number didn’t actually exist. Despite this, he unlocked his phone with a feeling of trepidation.

Cutie Patootie :3  
  
hey  
  
ayy!! what's up???☆°˖✧  
  


 

Keith blinked in surprise, he actually texted back. He also apparently had a whole bunch of stupid shit ready to be pasted into his texts but that wasn’t as important.

hey  
  
ayy!! what's up???☆°˖✧ nothing much, just not able to fall asleep tonight really. you??  
  
i feeeeeeeeeel☆°˖✧  
  
i’m watching a movie right now to try to fall asleep but it’s not working aT ALL☆°˖✧  
  
what do you keep sending me with all your texts?????   
  
oh can u not see any of it??☆°˖✧ i can, it just looks really weird. what is it???  
  
my text signature!! what do you think☆°˖✧ why are there three peeled bananas.  
  
maybe if things go well, you’ll find out ;)☆°˖✧ jk bananas are gross i just have it for the aesthetic tbh  
  


Opening up the browser on his phone for a minute, Keith quickly typed out “banana emoji” and opened the first link he saw. Reading over it quickly, his face scrunched up in disgust.

i found out what is and you’re blocked now. i never want to see or talk to you again u nasty ass piece of shit.  
  
I SAID I WAS KIDDING☆°˖✧  
  
KEITH PLEASE☆°˖✧  
  
KEITH☆°˖✧  
  
keith????☆°˖✧  
  
o shit☆°˖✧  
  
i promise i’ll change the signature after i get back from work tomorrow☆°˖✧  
  
i’m gonna go to bed now and think of ways to get your forgiveness☆°˖✧  
  
ily ☆°˖✧  
  


Frowning at the last message he was sent, Keith pulled up another tab and searched “ily”. Reading the definition, he smiled and pushed his head against his phone. Lance may have been a dork that had a shitty aesthetic, and an annoying personality and who was he kidding Keith was starting to fall for him. Or at the very least, he was interested in getting to know Lance a bit more and spending time with him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i spent over four hours on the text messages. i hate myself and i hate everything. That being said, this was a super fun chapter to write and I hope you guys enjoyed it! Updates will probably be a little slower for a while, but they'll still be reasonably scheduled unless something serious pops up.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Notes: When I say "teen" I mean that Lance and Keith are in the 18-19 range. So, legal adults but definitely not actual adults. Pidge is around 17, Hunk's 19, and Shiro and Allura are both 24. Also: unless u consider nsfw to be kissing and hand-holding then there's no nsfw here, just a couple of guys being dudes. I think that's it so please tell me what you thought!


End file.
